on arts + design

HELL-3d

A crew of demolition workers in Paris discovered a mysterious wooden box hidden in the ruins of a condemned building. The box contained a collection of photographs depicting a hedonistic world filled with drunken devils, sinister skeletons and scantily clad women. An anonymous note found buried among the glass images added:
‘“This is the work of my life, it is thus that I dreamed of Hell. If my visions are true, then the wicked may rest assured, the afterlife will be sweet for them to bear.”
What the demolition workers discovered that day was a series of photographs known as Les Diableries, The Diabolical. Each scene in the series was composed of an elaborate diorama sculpted out of plaster and clay and embellished with miniature props. Created in Paris during the 1860s, the series was printed in the form of stereoscopic transparencies.’

How to see cross-eyed stereoscopic images:

Click on images to enlarge / set video to full screen and pause it.

Place index finger between images at bottom.

Focus on your index finger.

Slowly bring your finger towards your nose, staying focused on your finger, but paying attention to the background images in your peripheral vision. You will notice that instead of two images, there are four images floating about.

Continue bringing your finger closer to your nose- you will see the two middle images moving towards each other.

When the two middle images are aligned, or are on top of each other, stop moving your finger. You will now see three images in the background. The middle one contains the left/right images overlapped.

Slowly remove your finger from your field of vision, while keeping the middle two images aligned.

Gradually force your focus out to the combined left/right image in the middle.